Gary Redmond look out for ice picks

The Union of Students Ireland today released a statement calling for JobBridge to be dismantled. ‘A day’s work for a day’s pay, and real opportunities for young people- End this nonsense now.’

rabble seems to remember coming up against the USI over the years as we’ve consistently attacked the unfairness and malicious use of JobBridge to further unemployment, reduce wages and debase working standards. However, a quick search on the USI site returns no support of JobBridge. Are our silly memories confused, addled brains from too much substance abuse and what not? Hmmm….

Hold on a darn minute. There’s a whack of Trotsky and the Politburo about this. Here’s the Facebook status from 2011…

…but the page linked no longer exists!

Still we used our internet monkeys to find a cache. Gary Redmond (former USI President and JobBridge leg-humper) might be advised to avoid trips to Mexico.

Hang on, I don’t think that’s very fair, the USI welcomed job bridge as they believed it would be used for its intended purpose- to up skill people as well as giving people work experience and a chance to build contacts. When that was shown not to be the case they called for it to be dismantled. That seems pretty reasonable to me. That being said, deleting web pages that show they supported them in the beginning is shady and they would look as lot better if they held their hands up and said “we thought job bridge would be a positive social institution but we were wrong”

I also think it’s unfair on the current leadership to blame them for assertions of their predecessors. Surely signs that USI have become more progressive in taking stances against unpaid internships, precarious working conditions etc. need to be welcomed, encouraged and not stifled.

What USI welcomed in 2011 was a scheme that should have provided valuable experience to graduates to enable them to enter the workplace. What USI has condemned in 2014 is a cheap labour scheme masquerading as an internship scheme providing valuable experience. I see no conflict between these two opinions.